Petizian Has Big Night in 3-2 Win at Harvard
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Wally JohnsonAaron Bogosian gives Alex Petizian defensive help in Friday's win over Harvard
Senior goaltender Alex Petizian made a career-high 42 saves and freshman defenseman George Hughes had a goal and an assist as St. Lawrence University's hockey team skated to a 3-2 win over Harvard in a ECAC Hockey game at the Bright Hockey Center on the Harvard campus Friday night.
The Saints improve to 7-4-1 overall and 3-2-0 in the ECAC while Harvard drops to 1-4-1 both overall and in league play, losing its home opener.
Sophomore defenseman Pete Child gave the Saints the eventual game winning goal when he scored his fourth of the season on a bomb from the point 4:09 into the third period. Junior center Aaron Bogosian won a draw in the Harvard end and with the puck going back to Child at the blue line. The Saint sophomore took a stride toward net and gunned a slap shot which Harvard goalie Kyle Richter had no chance of saving to give the Saints a 3-1 lead.
The Crimson did get one more shot past Petizian, who had a spectacular night in the Saint net, as Alex Killorn wristed a shot inside the left post after the puck was deflected in front on a power play at 8:35 of the third period to pull the Crimson within a goal at 3-2, but Petizian later stoned Killorn on a point blank chance and came up with several other big stops to keep the Saints in front. Petizian surpassed his previous high of 40 saves, set at Princeton in a 3-1 win last year.
"That was a great job in net," said Saint coach Joe Marsh. "Alex made a ton of big saves in the second and third periods with the game on the line."
The Saints killed nearly a minute of the final two minutes of regulation time with work along the boards by Travis Vermeulen and Alex Curran and while Harvard was able to pull Richter for an extra attacker, the Saint defense kept the Crimson from coming up with the equalizer.
"We played a pretty solid game defensively against a very talented offensive team," Marsh added. "And our defense made big contributions offensively with two of the three goals coming from the point. The guys worked very hard and we were able to succeed despite being down a couple of regulars up front. Guys are stepping in and doing what they have to do for us to be successful."
The Saints scored the only goal of a fairly even first period as Hughes, whose father and uncle both played for Harvard, scored his first collegiate goal in his first visit to the Bright Hockey Center. Hughes took a shot from the center slot through traffic on the third Saint power play of the game and beat Richter at 9:20 of the first with Vermeulen and Curran assisting.
Crimson senior Michael Biega pulled Harvard even on a power play 8:33 into the second period, wristing a shot just inside the far post right after a faceoff in the Saint zone for his third of the year and a 1-1 tie.
The Saints regained the lead just under four minutes later, again on a power play. Hughes started the scoring play as he took a shot from the point which Richter kicked out. Curran, who was at the top of the crease with Vermeulen, banged the rebound back at the Harvard goalie, and while Richter got his pad on that shot, he couldn't stop Vermuelen's follow-up as the Saint captain scored his third of the season to put the Saints up 2-1.
Harvard outshot the Saints 18-6 in the second period, the disparity helped by a 4-1 edge in power play opportunities for the Crimson. Petizian stopped 17 of the 18 shots he faced to keep the Saints in front after two.